Author Archive

April 4, 2017

As originally posted on Blandin on Broadband… This month I offer congratulations to Chisago Lakes Minnesota. Two years ago, five small towns decided to identify and work together as one community in the America’s Best Communities competition sponsored by Frontier Communications, Dish Network, The Weather Channel and Co-Bank. Chisago Lakes includes Chisago City, Lindstrom, Center […]

March 30, 2017

Legislators need to be aware of the broadband planning occurring in Greater Minnesota. Counties are taking the lead and banding together to achieve cost savings and scale. They share a goal to provide a long-term, high quality broadband solution that meets 2026 state broadband goals for all of their county residents, while rejecting partial solutions […]

March 15, 2017

As originally posted on Blandin on Broadband While on vacation and reading randomly on Facebook and Twitter, I read an excellent article about someone retiring from the US Department of State after a long career. The article is long gone from my news feed. His career distilled to its essence – “Never underestimate your ability […]

February 9, 2017

As originally posted in Blandin on Broadband… Those readers that know me know that I can go on about broadband for a long time. I can talk about broadband demand, technologies, economic impact, private-public partnerships and just about any other broadband topic. So, I am facing a considerable challenge when I consider how to best […]

February 9, 2017

As originally posted on Blandin on Broadband… 5G Wireless as Rural Solution: Not any time soon. (Download as White Paper) 5G Wireless as Rural Solution: Not any time soon. Minnesota legislators are now hearing that a market-based broadband solution is near. 5G wireless to the rescue! Learning that public dollars would not be necessary for […]

December 20, 2016

Mike McIntee of AM950 spoke to Bill Coleman (speaking on behalf of the Minnesota Broadband Coalition) about broadband in Minnesota yesterday. (The broadband discussion starts at minute 31:35.) Bill draws from his experience working with communities across the state as well as recent research on broadband in Minnesota. They talk about the impact of not […]

November 29, 2016

As originally posted on the Blandin on Broadband blog… Lincoln, Murray and Pipestone Counties are three rural counties that have decided to work together on better broadband. The counties share a similar mix of small communities and big farms on the southwestern Minnesota prairie. They also see a growing number of neighboring counties getting fiber […]

November 28, 2016

I was pleased to help start the conversation on broadband last week at Association of Townships annual conference in St Cloud. Blandin Foundation community partners Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Chisago County and Cloquet Valley Internet Initiative were all featured as was the USDA and Paul Bunyan Telephone Cooperative. It was great to […]

August 8, 2016

As originally posted on the Blandin on Broadband blog… More thoughts on partnering… Based on the number of prospective Border to Border grants that I have been hearing about, I was thinking about how competitive this grant round will be. This is a new world for both providers and communities. At a recent Blandin Foundation […]

June 12, 2016

Bill Coleman’s letter to the editor in the Brainerd Dispatch… As a rural broadband advocate and consultant, I read Rep. Kresha’s June 2 letter with interest. I agree that he is one of the House GOP’s leading voices on broadband, but that voice is weak and out of tune with the needs of greater Minnesota. […]